The Igakukan ( 医学館 , Institute of medical learning ) or Igakkan was a major medical educational institution in Edo under the direct patronage of the Shogunate , the only one of its kind. Its large medical library is now one of the principal antique documents holdings of the National Archives of Japan .
8-806: Under the roju Matsudaira Sadanobu , the quality of doctors in Edo was bad, prompting the Shogunate to open a medical school. In 1791, such a school was set up under its direct control, based on a private medical school, the Seijukan ( 躋寿館 ) . The Seijukan itself was opened in 1765 by a former doctor of the Shogunate, Taki Mototaka ( 多紀元孝 ) . Once the shogunate took control, the school was renamed Igakukan. Initially located in Kanda-Sakumacho, it burnt down in 1806 and moved to Mukō-Yanagiwaramachi, present day Asakusabashi 4-16. The school collected and copied
16-596: A number of new posts: The Rōjū served not simultaneously, but in rotation, each serving the Shogun for a month at a time, communicating with the Shogun through a chamberlain, called Soba-yōnin . However, the Rōjū also served as members of the Hyōjōsho council, along with the Ō-Metsuke and representatives of various Bugyō (Commissions or Departments). As part of the Hyōjōsho ,
24-565: A vast amount of traditional Chinese medical works and treatises, its studies being largely influenced by the Kaozheng school of thought. It became a powerful key medical institution, the de facto core of all medical research and education in the country. Starting 1849, all books released related to medecine in Japan were to be approved by the Igakukan. In 1868, with the fall of the shogunate,
32-399: A whole; under the first two shōguns , there were only two Rōjū . The number was then increased to five, and later reduced to four. The Rōjū were usually appointed from the ranks of the fudai daimyōs with domains of between 25,000 and 50,000 koku . The Rōjū had a number of responsibilities, most clearly delineated in the 1634 ordinance that reorganized the government and created
40-458: The Rōjū did not regain their former power. They continued to exist, however, as a government post and a council with, officially if not in fact, all the powers and responsibilities they originally held, through the Edo period . Each office-holder is listed once. Some may have served under multiple shōguns , and as a result of multiple terms, the list may not fully accurate reflect the order in which
48-465: The Rōjū sometimes served a role similar to that of a supreme court , deciding succession disputes and other such disputed matters of state and its vassals. Under the reign of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1680–1709) the Rōjū lost nearly all their power, as the Shogun began to work more closely with the Tairō , Chamberlains, and others, including Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu , who held the power of a Tairō , but not
56-527: The Igakukan became a smallpox vaccination/prevention institute. This Japanese history–related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Roju The Rōjū ( 老中 ) , usually translated as Elder , was one of the highest-ranking government posts under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan . The term refers either to individual Elders, or to the Council of Elders as
64-463: The title. The Rōjū became little more than messengers, going through the motions of their proper roles as intermediaries between the Shogun and other offices, but not being able to exercise any power to change or decide policy. As Arai Hakuseki , a major Confucian poet and politician of the time wrote, "All the Rōjū did was to pass on his [Yoshiyasu's] instructions" (Sansom 141). Even after Tsunayoshi's death,
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